Laura explained quickly. Nellie began to cry again, and even Bobby looked troubled.
“It isn’t worth the risk, is it?” she asked. “Somebody will find us some time.”
“That’s just it,” Eve returned. “We don’t know when that some time will be. I can slide down that wire, get in by the roof opening, and unlock this door that shuts us up here. Of course, the key will be in the lock. If it isn’t, and there is nobody in the building, I can telephone for help.”
“Say, that’s great!” spoke Jess. “If you can only do it safely, Eve.”
“Oh, I’ll do it,” declared the country girl, confidently, and the next moment she began climbing out through the window nearest to the wire.
Laura and Jess held her around the waist; then, as she slid out, farther and farther, they clung to her shoulders. But Eve had to leave her arms free and suddenly she panted:
“Let me go! I’ve got to drop and grab the wire. That’s the only way.”
Laura and her chum looked at each other in doubt and fear. It did seem as though, if they let go of the girl, she must fall to the foot of the tower!
[CHAPTER XVIII—THE CONSCIENCE OF PRETTYMAN SWEET]
Prettyman Sweet would never have played such a contemptible trick on Bobby Hargrew and her comrades had he not been goaded to it by Lily Pendleton. Purt had what the girls called “a dreadful crush” on Lily, and she had made fun of him because he took Bobby’s jokes so tamely.